HOME ENTERTAINMENT

HOME ENTERTAINMENT; Big Screens Catch The Eye

By HANS FANTEL

Published: October 6, 1991

Even in hard times, luxury doesn't languish. Fred Duesenberg and James Packard, who built splendiferous cars during the Great Depression, didn't lack customers. Yachts did well, too.

Today, despite the cloudy economic climate, sybaritism of a similar sort flourishes. According to trade reports, big-screen video installations are hot items.

There are explanations. Historical parallels exist between those fancy cars of the Depression years and the fancy video of the present. In the days of the Duesenbergs, the automobile was still rapidly evolving in its technical refinements. Almost every new model represented a fresh design approach, giving cars an aura of excitement.

Similar circumstances prevail in video today. Big-screen technology supplemented by surround-sound is only now maturing, and therefore holds a fascination for those who like to live at the forefront of developments.

A large screen, filling nearly the whole field of vision, provides a more engrossing viewing experience than the image on a typical television set.

Big video screens existed in the past, but often their picture was fuzzy. Lately, big-screen video has become more satisfactory, thanks mainly to laser-scanned disks that provide video programs of high visual quality and to better circuitry that generates a sharper picture.

The large pictures are obtained with projection sets that operate like movie projectors. Most large-screen sets project the image on a matte-glass screen from behind. These one-piece sets -- with screens typically measuring between 40 and 60 inches diagonally -- are called rear projectors.

Even larger pictures can be produced by front projectors using a separate screen (or a white wall) as the projection surface.

Rear-projection sets with 46-inch screens are the most popular, partly because they achieve better image quality by forgoing large image size. Independent evaluations of leading models were recently conducted by Video Magazine. In comparisons of such performance factors as sharpness, detail, contrast and color fidelity, the Sony KPR46EX25 ($3,299) was deemed outstanding on all points, closely followed by the RCA P46159WK ($2,699), the Hitachi 46UX7B and the Magnavox RM8544, both priced at $2,999.

Some of these sets have advanced audio sections. For example, the Hitachi features a Dolby decoder that can create surround-sound like a movie theater's when rear speakers are added. Both the RCA and Hitachi models have circuits that provide an illusion of multidirectional sound.

In the past, the front projectors tended to be large and cumbersome, which limited their appeal. They also required precise focusing alignment with the screen, so that the red, blue and green elements of the picture would converge properly.

But several recent models substitute liquid crystal display devices for the conventional image tubes. These image generators (similar to the flat screens of laptop computers) drastically reduce the projector's size and make it as simple to focus as an ordinary slide projector. These advantages, however, can be attained only at some sacrifice of sharpness and detail.

The smallest and lightest of the liquid crystal display video projectors is Panasonic's PT-10L ($1,400), which fits into the hand and, at seven pounds, can be carried anywhere. It projects images of variable size, from 14 to 70 diagonal inches. It has a small built-in loudspeaker that will do in a pinch. But for a permanent home setup, a good external stereo sound system should be added.

The somewhat larger Sharp XV120ZU weighs 27 pounds, can project images as large as 100 inches (diagonally) and sells for $4,000. Neither of these compact front projectors has provisions for tuning in television and cable programs. They are intended mainly for use with a videodisk player or high-quality VCR.

The main advantage is that these compact, portable front projectors can be carried about and (with a separate stereo sound system) can easily turn any room into a home theater.